Golf is played on golf courses that include various terrain features, including tees, fairways, roughs, woods, water hazards, sand traps (or bunkers), and golf greens (commonly referred to as “the green”). The terrain of the golf course is generally varied so as to enhance the difficulty and play experience of the golf course. The greens further include a hole into which the golfer attempts to place the golf ball. The object of the game is to move a golf ball from the tee into a hole located on each green throughout the golf course. The golf ball is moved from the tee to the green by hitting or stroking the ball with a golf club. Usually, more than one stroke is required to place the golf ball in the hole.
Great skill and precision is required to successfully stroke the golf ball onto the green and eventually into the hole. Once on the green, various physical contours and properties of the green must be analyzed by the player to aid the player in accurately putting the ball into the hole. Distance to the hole, lines, slopes, grades, wind speed, wind direction, wetness or dryness of the grass, the length of the grass, the grain of the grass and other variables must be taken into account when determining the direction and swing speed of the golf club.
Some of the most important considerations when putting are the position of the ball on the green and the distance between the ball and the hole. A player's likelihood of success largely depends upon the player knowing these pieces of information. Once the position and distance has been determined, the player may adjust his or her swing accordingly. The position of the ball and the distance between the ball and the hole is typically gauged by pacing or is otherwise estimated by the player. Accordingly, it is difficult to obtain an accurate measurement.
Sometimes, a golfer employs a caddie that is familiar with a course and can therefore offer advice on where to aim, how hard to hit a shot, what type of shot to hit, etc. However, caddies are generally not available for the average golfer. To address this, technology has been used to provide digital caddies in the form of electronics that provide much of the information generally provided by a caddy. For example, GPS devices are available that provide a distance to the hole or an obstacle to assist the golfer in selecting the appropriate club, type of shot, and swing force. Such devices are useful when hitting a drive, approach shot, or other relatively longer distance shot where precision is less important. However, when putting or chipping on the green, where both the direction and force of the shot must be precisely determined, such GPS devices provide little benefit.
Further, a key requirement of any digital caddy is that it must provide information in a sufficiently quick manner so as to not unacceptably slow play. GPS devices can be programmed with the coordinates of tee blocks, fairways, greens, and other features of a golf course so that an instant output of an important distance can be output at any time. Accordingly, because the golfer can rely on the distance output by the GPS device rather than relying on other physical markers on the golf course (e.g. by stepping off a distance from a distance marker), such devices can speed play. However, as stated above, these devices provide little benefit once the ball is on or in close proximity to the green.